Ken Munro is the news editor. Please let him know about village news and events via Contact Us on the main menu or on 07880801674.
Latest roadworks – on Brooke road planned for 5 – 9 June, see here for details – Brooke STRO9060 PT
Along with all his friends in Shotesham and surrounding villages, the SVA committee and members were extremely saddened to hear of the recent death of our very good friend Raz Woollacott, following his relatively short battle with MND. Raz was at the centre of the SVA committee and its activities and all other things Shotesham for many many years, giving happily of his time and array of skills to enhance the life of the village and its people. We have much to thank him for and he’ll be very sadly missed by many, not least by his wife Laura and his family and our thoughts are with them.
And a fitting Epitaph as requested by Laura…https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/rip-raz-woollacott/
The DIARY – Click here

A Shotesham Warm Welcome – the programme of weekly Shotesham ‘Warm Welcome’ sessions is finished, however it may be held on a monthly basis through the summer…. watch this space!
Shotesham yoga – yoga continues on a weekly basis from 18.30 – 19.30 on Wednesdays. Enquiries via our very own Shotesham Yoga teacher, Kendra –kendracollier0@gmail.com or 07748009411
Walking in Shotesham – unfortunately our visit to Outney Meadows was postponed due to lack of leadership! Next walk will be on Sunday 4th June, usual meeting place/time.
Shotesham Screen is now suspended over the summer holiday period and will return in September, watch this space for details.
The Tour de Shotesham was postponed (10 minutes before the start!) due to lack of numbers, perhaps the holidays…? May be re-organised later in the year, with pre-registration as a requirement!
The SVA AGM took place on TUESDAY 18TH APRIL, but you can still help the SVA continue to put on events throughout the year by making a contribution, and despite the rampant inflation all around us, the donation continues to be recommended at £3 per person. Click on link for details and methods of payment. Membership Application 2023 . Thanks again from the SVA committee.
Shotesham Art Group – Many thanks to everyone who attended and supported local art at it’s best, hope you enjoyed it!
Shotesham Parish Council info….
The Parish Council elections on May 4th – Look, it’s John Cook who was elected as our councillor for the Newton Flotman ward, well done John. Congratulations too to villagers – Jim Webber, Lib Dem councillor in Mulbarton, and Jonathan Carver, Conservative councillor for Stratton.
Shotesham celebrates Coronation Day – good turn out for tea and Coronation cake….

Shotesham Open Gardens – Following the postponement of last summer’s Open Gardens we are delighted to announce that this event will be happening on Saturday July 1st and Sunday July 2nd. This year we will be raising money to support the work of the Motor Neurone Disease Association MND Association | Fighting motor neurone disease I am glad to say that we already have some gardens that will be open for visits but if you would like to open your garden too, big or small, tidy or untidy please let us know. We will also need a myriad of volunteers, refreshments, car parking etc, again get in touch with Sue Astbury 550377 or susan.astbury49@btinternet.com We’re hoping this will be a real community event, ‘may the weather be with us!’
Also, On Saturday May 27th 10-12 at the Trinity Hall sees the welcome return of the Shotesham Gardeners Annual Bring and Buy Plant Fair. Come along have a cup of coffee, meet friends, and browse the wide, and varied, selection of plants and seedlings that will be on sale. If you have plants you would like to sell, bring them along, labelled, to the Trinity at 9.30 on the Saturday or take them to Sue Astbury’s Rectory Farmhouse, The Street earlier in the week. This year we are also having a stall from Nancy selling her excellent plants and also one from Tilia Market Garden who, from their plot in Hempnall, produce seasonal, naturally grown vegetables for their veg box scheme. You can find out about their work and see some of their produce. For more information call Sue on 553077.
In the meantime you can enjoy some garden photos from last year as memories of a hot, hot summer!
We were blessed by the weatherman twice at the Easter w’end, on Saturday at The Globe we had the Return of the Burger with Simon, Martin, Keeley & Jo working hard and feeding the village with their very own burgers. There were flavours and fillings to suit everyone and although your Editor had a beef one with all the trimmings, I’m assured the halloumi burger was amazing! Let’s hope they’re back again soon 🤞
Easter Monday Kid’s Funday – Despite the morning weather, somebody was definitely looking out for us as rain stopped qt 2.30 and it turned into a fine afternoon, as can be seen by the photos, with eggy hunts, crafts and races…..and not forgetting the cakes…😋
Shotesham Common – The Trustees of Shotesham Common have been given permission by Natural England and will be continuing to carry out some work on the common over the following months. Just to explain what we are doing and why:
We will be manually cutting back sections of the banks of the beck on an annual basis, where Willow Herb has dominated, to enable birds and mammals to have access to the water.
We will be manually cutting Alder saplings and trees. Over the years these have changed the open landscape and caused drying out of the wetland meadows, which is contrary to the management agreement we have with Natural England.
Bernie Fenn, for Trustees of Shotesham Common
Wildlife in Shotesham – who knew we had so many different wildlife species on our doorstep?! Village resident, Andy Musgrove is busy collecting and collating them all and, whilst in his own words he hasn’t got them all yet, click here for a few to be getting on with. Careful though, it could make your hair stand on end!!
…And in Joys Loke….
Courtesy of Tom Higgin
St Martins Church looking good – also see video at St Martin’s Church sub menu via Churches and the PCC heading above – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMfP1tx642g (copy and paste link)
Even with the world wide crisis, some people are still looking to take advantage of any weaknesses. As always, please keep an eye out for any unusual activity, remember that if you spot anything suspicious the police can be contacted by phoning 101.
SCAM AWARE! Hopefully we are now well used to the occurrence of scams, but the best of us can still be caught out. Here’s a message from a Shotesham resident of a scam attempt – ‘I had a call asking if I had received my new debit card in the last 7 days which I hadn’t. He wanted me to hand my card to someone who would came round to collect it! This person was obviously watching to see me return home and came to collect my card. I was so gullible not to see so many signs of a scam, but all is OK, I have rung Barclays and the police who were very understanding. I have never been scammed before and learnt a lot from my experience.’
Luckily our neighbour did figure it out in time, but this shows how convincing scammers can be!!
Community information….
Newest Additions –
Healthwatch Norfolk are carrying out hospital visits in Mat and June to canvas healthcare views, click here for details ….. and
Latest info from Norfolk Association of Local Councils (NALC) – details here …and
The Countryside Charity Norfolk latest newsletter, click here
Environment Agency message – You can find information about this work at this link which includes a map to show the location(s) of work. We hope you find this useful and that you can place this prominently in your community or share it in other ways (for example, in a parish magazine or at a meeting).
We would appreciate it if you could take the time to complete our short questionnaire, following the link below. This should only take a few minutes to complete. The results will be used to improve our future communication with parish councils and actively listen to feedback. https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=UCQKdycCYkyQx044U38RAgQ6nvQoq65JrgEQzdbwDJFUQUI0ODhZR082RjNEOUxVT0xQVlhQUFo0WS4u
Asset Performance (Norfolk) | Environment Agency Team 020 302 55460 | Incident Hotline (24hr) 0800 80 70 60
Some practical help in local libraries courtesy of Norfolk Councils – click here
Help from Norfolk Local Councils – a lot of helpful information, including some financial assistance for certain cases, click here for more information
Review of Residential Care across Norfolk, read more here
Anglian Water’s Priority Services Register is in place to help lots of people with different needs and is completely free, click here for more info
Local Council ‘stuff’ –
Norfolk Local Councils (NLC) – Go wild in the Country with Norfolk Wildlife Trust
ALSO, Norfolk Citizens Advice have launched a new initiative to assist individuals in need – Grants for Individuals in need database. The database is funded as part of the Coordinated Community Support Programme and is open access on the Norfolk Citizens Advice website. The database contains largely small local grant giving organisations that operate in Norfolk.
The webpage contains:
- Brief information on how to use the database
- A short video demonstration
- A tips document on maximising successful applications with hints and tips from grant organisation trustees
- A feedback link to report out of date information, suggest organisations to include, or just give feedback on your experience of using the database
Norfolk County Council – info, advice and links here
Norfolk Local Councils’ Wellbeing Group have produced an excellent article on Carbon Footprints and some actions which can be taken, click here, and they have also provided a pamphlet of Finance Awareness and Scam avoidance – see it here
South Norfolk’s latest bulletin containing a lot of good advice can be found at their website here….too big to attach!
Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital’s ‘Settle in Services’ are looking for dedicated volunteers who wish to give something back to their local community. Volunteers meet patients on their day of discharge from hospital to help settle them back in to their own environment. Click here for more information
For assistance with power cuts, please click this link from UK Power Networks
Thinking Fuel – If you feel you may be paying too much for your oil, Community Action Norfolk (CAN) have a scheme that may assist. Click here to see how you might save and here to see how it works, or go directly to the CAN website for more details.
Our local police officer is PC 1151 Sherry Locke who now holds the position of Poringland Beat Manager, contact details for all our local officers – click here.
Norfolk Police & Crime Commissioner’s – Jan/Feb news update – click here
Selected older news items are retained on the “News archive” page)